


Keep Running

by Kate_ (Cronni)



Series: Entries of the Psionic War Campaign [7]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Battlefield, Blood and Violence, Curses, Entries of the Psionic War Campaign, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:26:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cronni/pseuds/Kate_
Summary: Since youth, people told her that being a cleric of a death’s god would make it all easier – make see the blood, the tears, the worn-out corpses without the feeling of hopelessness.They were so wrong.[Or: A prequel about bloodlines and battles.]
Series: Entries of the Psionic War Campaign [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758601





	Keep Running

Everything Katric sees is fire, crumbled bodies and _death_. Since youth, people told her that being a cleric of a death’s god would make it all easier – make see the blood, the tears, the worn-out corpses without the feeling of hopelessness. 

They were _so_ wrong. 

Standing in the middle of a broken battlefield, the white-haired tiefling look at the threat in front of her and her comrades. The mage’s clothes look painted with glistening blood under the desert’s insufferable sun, and he flies above everything else – smiling like they were the best sight he ever seen before. 

_Maybe we are, indeed._

The battlefield is obstructed with debris of a fallen meteor, but Katric keeps moving – running – forward. Sweat drips off her silver skin, the heat almost unbearable when added with the fatigue but _she is still running_. 

His laugh feels like coming from inside her mind, like a never-ending nightmare. “Why are you fighting like you’re running out of time, little devil?” 

“You are going to pay for all of this, Larz!” 

“Am I?” 

He laughs even more now. 

Katric keeps running forward. 

A few meters ahead of her, in the middle of a bunch of corpses, another person lies on the ground, struggling to get up. The tiefling’s golden eyes lit up with hope and she even manage a small smile across her lips at the sigh of the elf. “Sal!” 

“Ka– Kat?” His voice comes out like a choked-out whisper, and she almost can’t hear it with all the noises. 

“It’s me, Sal. How bad are you?” 

“I– Don’t know,” he sits down with her help and looks around carefully, seeming to notice the destructing just now, “how many…?” 

“Almost 90 percent. Meteors fell down. That’s how you got hit. The rest of us are trying to– to–“ 

What are they even trying to do, really? 

If a whole army of cleric and paladins couldn’t stop this man, then what would they do? 

Sure, he’s tired, and probably without much tricks in his sleeve, but he’s still a spellcaster, and who knows what’s still a valid option for him– 

“Katric?” 

Her eyes snap back at him, “what?” 

“We need to back out. This– We are dying here.” 

“But, Salnon–“ 

“I don’t want to die here, Kat. You can’t die here either.” 

As she looks around, her head almost spins. There’re so many people, from so many races, lying down in the sand full of debris. People who won’t have the chance to live another day to make the difference. 

Would they make a difference if they run away? 

Katric once wished to see the name Millitum passed through generations. She knows that Salnon wants that for himself, too. 

As she helps the elf get on his feet, the tiefling asks the Raven Queen forgiveness as she screams, at the top of her lungs, an order to everyone else to get together so they can _get out_. 

Another cleric, a dragonborn named Yurn, joins the reuniting group and opens a bright, gigantic portal. She sees a weird landscape, not quite recognizable, on the other side, and she ropes the cleric know what he’s doing. 

Larz laughs once again, and Katric just _knows_ that something will come next. She grasps Salnon’s wrist. 

_“Move, now!”_

And they move. 

“You’re really thinking you’re getting out of this just like that?” 

But it’s not fast enough. 

There’s a wave of energy that Katric can only describe as _void_. It’s a type magic that she never saw or felt before, like something so far away from reach that looks like Orcus himself came from within this man just to fight them. 

As Katric runs to the gate, everything goes dark. 

_But she keeps moving._

There’s the feeling of teleportation magic through her body, and the heat and the sounds are _gone_. Now all that’s heard is the light tick of synchronized clocks, accompanied with a small breeze of fresh air. 

Katric feels, and hears, and _knows_. 

But she cannot see. 

“…Sal? Yurn?” 

“Katric?” 

She hears the elf’s voice. She feels his pulse under her hand. 

She doesn’t see him. 

Soon, it’s not one, or two, but a whole group of confused, scared and terrified voices. 

Katric suddenly feels so _tired_. 

_“What’s happening?”_

_“Where are we?”_

_“Something is wrong–“_

_“I can’t see–“_

But as the voices talks, they sound more and more tired, just like her. Slowly, the sounds quiet down altogether. 

Her grasp comes slack and she lets go of the elf. 

Lost in the middle of Mechanus, Katric can feel regret – from the fight, the deaths, the whole mission. 

While her mind loses the battle to stay awake, the tiefling almost swears that she sees a woman with dark hair and a polished white mask watching her from _somewhere_. 

**Author's Note:**

> About the clerics:
> 
> Katric's deity - Kelenvor (Death Domain);  
> Salnon's deity - Corellon (Life Domain); and  
> Yurn's deity - Lendys (Justice Domain).
> 
> About the villain:  
> Larz's deity - Orcus (Lord of the Abyss).


End file.
